Total Materials Management White Paper
White Paper
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Discover how Rinchem transformed a high-stakes, global supply chain into a streamlined, data-driven operation that keeps the heart of semiconductor manufacturing beating.
With decades of logistics experience and powerful analytics tools, Rinchem implemented a Total Materials Management (TMM) solution to ensure uninterrupted operations and end-to-end visibility.
In this White Paper, we explore how Rinchem partnered with a global semiconductor manufacturer to optimize and manage a complex supply chain involving over 60 chemical suppliers through:
- The need for supply chain management
- Total Material Management (TMM)
- Efficient supply chain management
About Rinchem
Rinchem is a forward-looking 3PL partner with global reach and decades of experience in warehousing and transporting specialty chemicals and gases. Rinchem has built a top-notch Business Intelligence Group, able to see the total supply chain, shine a light on subtle inefficiencies, and ensure timely deliveries. Rinchem’s combination of deep experience with a focus on analytics gives customers a well-tuned and well-managed supply chain with complete end-to-end visibility.
WAREHOUSING
TRANSPORTATION
FREIGHT FORWARDING
TECHNOLOGY
The Obstacle
The Need for Supply Chain Management
Semiconductor chip fabrication is an incredibly involved manufacturing processes. The complexity of interdependent machines and processes dictates that a fabrication site is almost never shutdown. The specialized equipment needs a constant supply of unique chemicals from over 60 suppliers and a single machine running dry can jeopardize overall site reliability. This complexity is multiplied by a global presence with fabrication sites in different countries around the world. An uninterrupted world-wide supply chain is foundational to the success of the business model and any lapses are unacceptable.
For the chip manufacturer, supply chain management was a core competency acquired out of necessity.
For the chip manufacturer, supply chain management was a core competency acquired out of necessity. If this critical component of their business could be managed by a proven, trusted partner, internal operations would be greatly simplified with no additional risk. To successfully manage the global supply chain logistics for a Fortune 50 company, this partner needs to be privy to internal long-range plans so it too can seamlessly grow and adapt in concert with the chip manufacturer.
KEY REQUIREMENTS
ENSURE EQUIPMENT NEVER SHUTS DOWN
CONSTANT SUPPLY OF CHEMICALS
UNINTERRUPTED WORLD-WIDE SUPPLY CHAIN
The Solution
Total Materials Management
Rinchem created a custom plan built around its Total Materials Management (TMM) service.
The Plan Includes:
A dedicated team of supply chain specialists overseeing the process
Weekly touch-base meetings
Full door-to-door visibility of all managed materials
Tailored supply chain dashboards
Real-time KPI reporting
Custom reports
Supplier management; chip maker’s buyers now work through Rinchem
Rinchem is single point of contact
Rinchem coordinates with 60 suppliers
Supply chain risk alerts
Min/Max inventory & consumption excursions
Threat alerts
Supplier shortages
Weather interruptions
Labor strikes
The chip manufacturer chose Rinchem, putting the responsibility of an intricate and multifaceted global supply chain in the hands of a trusted partner. Rinchem, with an enviable safety record has warehoused and transported their materials for years and is very familiar with their supply chain. They also selected Rinchem for its technical infrastructure. Rinchem’s industry-leading Chem-Star® technology unifies a Warehouse Management System, Business Intelligence, domestic and international shipping, external integrations, real-time dashboards, and custom reporting under a secure umbrella.
The Results
Efficient Supply Chain Management
Rinchem’s Total Materials Management service now manages the chip maker’s entire supply chain, end-to-end, with full transparency on all managed materials. Customized, self-serve dashboards with drill-down capability show the health of the supply chain at a glance.
CONTINUALLY ANALYZE & TUNE THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Rinchem’s BI group continually analyzes and tunes the supply chain looking for waste and inefficiencies. An example of major cost savings is when Rinchem identified a substantial amount of unused material in several warehouses that was accumulating unnecessary extended storage fees.
REAL-TIME METRICS & WEEKLY PLANNING
Rinchem and the chip manufacturer have weekly planning and status meetings with a two-way exchange of status and future plans. These meetings are also the venue for modifying and creating custom dashboards. Rinchem’s Business Intelligence group creates big-data algorithms to reach into an extensive supply chain database to distill key information. Rinchem’s BI group’s rapid development process creates these BI algorithms and wires them into custom dashboards to deliver eye catching, real-time metrics.
STREAMLINE WITH A SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT
The chip maker’s raw material buyers now work with Rinchem planners as a single point of contact. Rinchem’s planners coordinate the 60 suppliers, normalize their differences and return compiled reports to the buyers. By virtue of being in the middle, under the blessing of the chip manufacturer, Rinchem also works with the suppliers and offers incentives for win-win initiatives such as standardized ordering processes. Suppliers also benefit in other ways; their individual performance has improved through continuous feedback and early-warning alerts of potential or repeated gaps.
Conclusion
Choosing Rinchem’s TMM service was an excellent decision. With full visibility into all aspects of the supply chain, the chip maker was comfortable relinquishing supply chain responsibility to its Rinchem partner to handle the daily myriad of details from order fulfillment and replenishment across multiple warehouses and countries, to the complexities of ocean shipping.
The chip maker’s previously functional supply chain has evolved into a finely tuned, predictive, intelligent supply chain with real-time dashboard instrumentation, excursion alerts, and careful oversight.
With the supply chain under Rinchem’s careful stewardship, the chip manufacturer can devote its internal resources to its core mission of expanding the human technology envelope through development and fabrication of ever-better semiconductors that become essential to the way we live and work.